OHA Side Story: Titans in the Industry
Tali had accepted the Champions recommendation in an instant after having heard of their reputation. She figured that such high and upstanding heroes would be able to give her the rough and dirty of the industry, allowing her a deeper insight into the work they are going for. Tali stood outside the agency, afraid to enter it just yet, simply standing there and taking deep breaths in order to calm her nerves. "Come on, Tali. They scoped you and fouind you interesting. Just walk in there, and present yourself." She spoke as her legs shook and refused to move. "Oh hey! Tali!" shouted a familiar voice from her right. Eikyo Jooryoku ran over to her, waving as he did so. "So they sent you a recommendation too, huh? Well I shouldn't be surprised, you beat me in the Sports Festival after all. How ya doin? Those side effects from overusing your Quirk cleared up yet?" Tali brightened up as she saw Eikyo closing in. "Eikyo! I shouldn't really be surprised either, but man, oh man am I glad to see a familiar face around here. I'm doing good, managed to fulfill my promise and apparently been accepted into a grand agency. Could hardly be better. Well... except..." She spoke as she extended her hand and rubbed the top of it, taking away some of her make up, revealing a softly radaint sheen underneath. "No, you pushed me real hard. With exception for my remaining three charges, I am useless for a couple more days." "Ah, well that's a real shame," said Eikyo with a displeased face. "I was hoping to get another go atcha. Also, you're probably gonna really need it, like as soon as possible. Mom's really hands on." Tali had an odd look on her face. "Mom? Hands on? What are you talking about?" Tali spoke seriously, but still with the same expression, but a clearly different tone, at the flip of a coin she moved on with: "Seriously, what do you mean hands on? She's not gonna go after my goods, is she?" Tali quipped while holding up her arms halfway to her face, partially covering her endowed features with them. Eikyo looked Tali up and down briefly. "As good as your goods are, my mom's straight. I mean, at least I think she is. She hasn't dated a woman to my knowledge. Now let's go inside." He beckoned her to follow him as he put his hand on the door. Tali nodded, following in his steps, She was still nervous, but seeing him here actually made her feel more at ease with this. She stood right beside him and nodded to show that she was ready to start their internship. Eikyo opened the door. There was nothing too extravagant, albeit the building's interior was made from white marble with certain black granite decorations. Eikyo and Tali walked over to the nearby desk, ringing the belle. A worker came out, looking towards the two interns with a tired expression. "We're here to see Sora Dabi," said Eikyo with a large grin. The man nodded and walked over to a nearby phone. "Ms. Dabi, your interns are here to see you." Not even a full second passed before the doors on the upper floor slammed open. A woman with long, flowing blonde hair jumped off the railing. She didn't fall though, she floated. A tornado had appeared below her and lowered her to the ground, landing directly behind Tali and Eikyo. "So, you two wanna become Champions, huh? Well then, I'll be putting you both through the wringer!" "Uhm, mam? What exactly is the 'wringer'?" Tali asked, now starting to get a bit worried. Her comment implied some hefty work ahead, and her basically being quirk-crippled for the next 3 days might prove cause for concern. Sora looked both Tali and Eikyo up and down, not even acknowledging her question. "The Champions are unique in that we primarily look at second years for internships. We get to see those who have had some time to develop as Heroes, yet not quite enough for us to still get the chance to mould them. Both of you showed the highest level o skill and power in the Sports Festival, however you both have significant problems that you need to work on." She pointed to Tali. "You, are too willing to harm yourself to achieve victory. Sure, you won the match, but at what cost. At the time of your match, you had no idea that your fight against Eikyo was going to be your last match. What if you're needed to help fight against a Villain that no one else can beat, but you've put yourself out of commission. You need to know when to call it quits. I've been informed that you can't use your Quirk for the next few days because of overusing your Quirk to such a degree. Don't think that I'll be going easy on you though just because you're Quirkless of the next few days." "Looks like you got a lot to work on Tali," Eikyo chuckled. "Don't even get me started on you young man!" Sora shouted. "You constantly underestimate your opponents! You gave Kinzoku and Ryuji too many opportunities to defeat you! It shouldn't have been that hard!" She recollected herself. "Tali, you'll be focusing more on hand-to-hand combat and detective work for the next three days until your Quirk resurfaces, and since you're the one that drove her that far in battle, you'll be accompanying her the whole time." "Dammit..." Eikyo murmured. "Do not swear!" "I had my reasons for doing that at the time ma'am, but I understand what you mean, and I won't let that happen again. I am ready to take on anything you have prepared for me." Tali said with a stoic countenance and a slight bow. "I will do my all to make myself worthy of the Champions name." "Very well then," said Sora. "I suppose it's time I introduce you to your trainer." Eikyo and Tali followed her through a door. The facility was large, but rather empty. There wasn't much staff present. "His Quirk isn't that strong, so he relies more so on other skills. The perfect person to train both of you to be less reliant on your Quirks." She opened one more door, leading into a training area. Sitting in the middle on a fold to chair was a man in all black with bronze lines. He looked like a ninja. "This is the Pro Hero Bronze Bow. I'm certain you've heard of him. Go ahead and introduce yourself Tali." Tali nodded before bowing to the Hero known as Bronze Bow. "I am Tali Shimamura from Class 2-A. And while a pleasure, I am sad ot admit that I know little of you, Sir Bronze Bow. I would excuse wit by saying that I am not much up to date with the faces of heroics, but that makes me only sound worse." Tali admitted shamefully. The man sighed heavily, his shoulders rising, then lowering. "Training begins now!" He flicked a small piece of metal towards her forehead, headed towards her at high speed. Unprepared for the sudden assault, she found herself lacking in her response to the attack. The piece of metal struck her square in the forehead. While not strong enough to do any serious damage, the force and speed of the small object caused a minor split of the skin, causing minor bleeding as she yelped her response from the attack. "What the he-!" Tali spoke as she interrupted herself before she could allow herself to curse. "What was the purpose of that?" The man stood up and walked over to her, getting in her face. "You weren't ready." Eikyo couldn't help but burst out laughing. He was immediately silenced when another piece of metal got flicked into his own forehead. He didn't even have the chance to put up a barrier. "Ouch!" "There is no laughing in Sensei Bronze Bow's dojo!" he shouted at Eikyo. He walked back a few feet, looking both of the interns up and down. Eikyo, you will not be using your Quirk for the next 24 hours. If you do, you'll be severely punished. This is the first part of your training. A little bit of dodgeball." "With metal pellets?!" Tali exclaimed. She took a deep breath before straightening her back and cooling her nerves. "Alright, let's just get to it. Are we to battle eachother or is it us agaisnt you?" "You'll both be going up against me," said Bronze Bow as he took a few more steps back. "And you're not allowed to cross this line." He waved his hand, and a series of bronze dust particles neatly arranged themselves in a line on the ground in front of the two Heroes in training. "Just let me know when you're ready." He didn't wait before decking Eikyo in the forehead with another small piece of metal. The young man stumbled backwards, rubbing his head and looking at Bronze Bow angrily. "I thought you said you would...!" he didn't get to finish his sentence before another small piece of metal was thrown into his mouth. He gagged as he attempted to cough it up. The next one he threw was aimed towards Tali's knee. Tali had by this point caught up with what was going on, and quickly skipped into action. She spun on the spot, her leg moving out of the way and back to it's original position when the pellet was thrown at her. She stood ready for the next move, and while not looking at Eikyo, still adressed his well being. "You ok?" Eikyo coughed up the small piece of metal, it landing in his hand. "Yeah, I'm fi-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before another piece struck him in the forehead, followed by another one headed towards the distracted Tali's neck. "Pay attention!" shouted Bronze Bow. Tali sidestepped the incominging pellet, for while she may have spoken to Eikyo, she was fully intent on the attacks from Bronze Bow. Tali did not merely dodge however, but rather performed a countermeasure. As she sidestepped the pellet, she grabbed hold of the hurled object before swiftly throwing it back at Bronze Bow at chest level. The velocity of the object had decreased when Tali threw it back to him, catching it easily. "Impressive, considering you don't even have access to your Quirk." He reached into his quiver, pulling out a bow and knocking an arrow. "Let's see how you handle this." ---- Eikyo sat down in the building's cafeteria. He was hungry, but his eating was slowed by the bruises in his palms. "You just had to throw it back at him, didn't you?" Tali panted and patted her hands, feeling the bruises and friction marks. "Well sorry, I thought that was the point of it all!" Tali exclaimed softly before taking up her glass, hissing and then sighing at the feeling of the iced water in her hand. "You have some crazy people here." Eikyo laughed at her outburst. "Well, according to Mom, Bronze Bow's the jokester of the group. They've got about 18 other Heroes here, and each one's 100% more serious than he is. And by that I mean, they don't open up our training session by flicking a piece of bronze at your forehead without any warning." "No, they'd probably shoot something instead." Tali jested as she took a sip from her water before proceeding to eat her thawed pizza. "It's not that bad though. It was a kind of good exercise. Just give me a proper sun bath and I'll be set to go." "Don't you need three more days before your Quirk can become active again?" Eikyo teased. "Technically I can go right now. Given I can only use four moves for the next three days, but beyond that, I still technically can. What I was talking about though was that i can regenerate faster while under intense heat and UV radiation. So these little injuries should be gone in short." Tali answered as she munched on her food. Tali began to think about something. Something that ached in her core, yet she considered it all the same. "Hey, remember that fight we had, and what you said then?" Eikyo was chewing when she asked the question. "No. What do you mean specifically?" he asked with a full mouth. Tali put on a smile as she pulled out her phone. It felt like a betrayal of sorts, but she went through with it all the same. For us both. Tali thought to herself as she tapped some buttons until she found what she was after. She put the phone down on the table and slid it over to Eikyo, revealing her phone number. "You asked for this in the Arena. Still want it?" She said with a bright smile, giving no hints to her state of mind. "Oh yeah," said Eikyo, swallowing his food. "It's been a few days and I was obviously fatigued at the time. Kinda forgot. Yeah gimme." He took her phone and began typing her number into his. As soon as he finished, he sent a text message to her, with it just reading his name. Tali looked at the phone, figuring that everything was working fine, she then put it away in her pocket. "Wonderful. If you ever want to contact me, maybe do something, you know how to reach me now." She spoke, her voice cheerful and smile wide. "Speaking of which, we're suppose to clock out at around 7:00. That's pretty early. Maybe we could go get a bite to eat, hang out, do something?" "Certainly. Just as friends or... Asking since I should probably base my outift based on your answer." "You don't need to put on something special for a date with me, although something sexy would not be unwanted." Tali couldn't help but laugh. "Well, you're quite the bold one, aren't ya?" Tali said. "Then I suppose I should make for home before we head out. WHo knows, maybe you will be pleasantly surprised." "What can I say," said Eikyo with a shrug, "you're an attractive woman. And I don't like to hold back in any aspect of life. At least, not in any manner that would be in poor taste." "Well, at least you have standards, always a good trait." Tali jested. She still felt that heavy feeling in her heart, yet she tried her best to push through it. "So, what do you have in mind? Just dinner, or maybe a movie and such too? When and where are we going to meet?" "I know this nice little place not too far from here," said Eikyo, "good food, nice atmosphere, I think you'll really like it." Tali nodded. "SOunds like a plan. How about you pick me up at the school after work then?" Tali asked with her nerves getting to her. "Sure," Eikyo said, leaning back in his chair, "so how many more hours until regular usage of your Quirk returns?" "Somewhere between 48 to 54 hours, I believe." Tali answered. "How so? Wanting to spar again?" "Sounds tempting," said Eikyo, "but I'd prefer to finish up my time training here before moving on to fighting you again. Besides, Zenji wants to take a crack at you first." "You know Zenji? And I wouldn't doubt it, Zenji gives me way too much credit, apparently having declared me a rival of sorts. I look forward to seeing how everyone progresses, especially Zenji, though maybe it is mostly because of selfish reasons." Tali said with a soft chuckle. "Yeah," said Eikyo, "we hang out all the time. I'm near the top of the list people he wants to beat too. I beat him at the Sports Festival last year, back before he was in the Hero Course. Of course, it's never fun for me to have to mitigate his arguments between him and Horatia." "Being the middle man is never a good time." Tali replied with a knowing sigh, thinking back to some old and unpleasant memories. "At least it means that they trust you... This date that we are having, can you give me a little tease of what I can expect?" She asked sweetly, trying to weasel out a little hint from him while also trying to be cute and playful. "Well I can't give away the keys to the kingdom now, can I?" he said, not certain that metaphor actually applied. "I'll see you tonight. Trust me when I say that it will be a magical evening." "I will hold you to that." Tali said with a mischievous grin. After their lunch had been eaten they went back to their duties before heading out. Tali did stil not feel too secure about this, yet she was still determined to give her all, as in all things she did. ---- Tali stood outside the gates of U.A Academy, standing some minutes early in wait of Eikyo to make his appearance. She stood wrapped in a ashen black trench coat. If he asked, it would be for warmth, but she was really just hiding away her surprise for him. She still felt awful, as if she was betraying something. It couldn't be her, for there seemed to be no hope for that, but maybe simply her heart was not ready for this. Yet with Tali being who she is, she saw no better approach than to force change into her heart, likely prematurely, yet she cared not. All that was left was for the date itself to start and seal an end to her "foolish" dreams. Tali felt a tap on her shoulder, and upon turning around she'd be met with the grinning face of the student from Class B. "Hello, hello," said Eikyo, "what's up with the trench coat?" "Heya!" Tali replied simply to his greeting, a soft smile on her features. "I felt a bit cold, so I took some extra precautions. With my quirk still on lockdown, I don't really experience warmth or heat in the same way you would." She explained, not untrue, but still not entirely honest. "So then," she began as she snaked her arm around his before continuing: "Where are we going?" "Oh you'll see soon enough." A limousine pulled up in front of the duo. He walked up to the passenger's door and opened, beckoning for her to enter. "After you ma'am." Tali was stunned. She couldn't even find it in herself to make a remark about the "ma'am" comment. She beamed from ear to ear, nodding and accepting the offer, taking a seat inside. The door was closed behind her, and Eikyo soon took a seat beside her. She was astonished, overwhelmed just a little bit in awe. "You really went all out with this, didn't you? You certainly know how to treat a lady, it seems." "It pays to have famous parents," Eikyo laughed. "The place we're going to isn't exactly in walking distance either, so I figured we should ride in style. Are you enjoying our first-class amenities?"